I am a new owner of the PA-14, (And love it, if I may say so.) I thought I would ask some of you more experienced PA owners about the Hobie Baitwell. I have one that I built from an old cooler that works well for everything except shad, (in the summer) and poggies while out King fishing. For the money is it better to invest in the one built for the PA, or would I be just as well to get a tank from Keep Alive or some other (round) tank and build it myself. They money will not be that different. I just want something that is going to do the best job of keep my bait fresh.

These types of baits tend to pile up in the corner and don't do so well.

You can do it either way. However, the Hobie is already built to fit the space and the supper holes. If you build 1, make sure you constantle pump in the fresh water and overflow the old. That keeps the fish alive better than anything. Just circulating in an ice chest and an airpump isn't enough. pumping in fresh water constantly will keep them alive all day and night. Hobies do that.

The cooler I built works really well for most bait. I have a battery operated pump that brings water in thru the bottom and outflow at the top. It works well for small blues, mullet, etc while King fishing. The only drawback is the fact that it is not round and some baits such as shad and menhaden need that in my experience. I was told by a close friend who has the Hobie livewell that the baits do the same thing in his. Just trying to get other perspectives before I spend a lot of money.

I have used the pvc bait holders behind the kayak and they work well for what I have used them for, but I have not had shad or menhaden in them yet.

For the PA 14 you could get a Keep Alive Tank but I am not sure they make a round one under 10 gallons. If they do.....I would go that route. They make a great product for what you are describing.

If they dont make a smaller one, do the old 5 gallon bucket tank. I would suggest a couple of modifications from your previous cooler build. Keep the intake and out take up top. I know this sounds weird for a bait tank but just get and adjustable spray head that keeps the intake and fitting out of the water in your tank. Sensitive white bait will tend to run into anything so I prefer to have my intake not in the water. You can always in crease your water intake if you need to by going to a 500 ph pump and run it on a 6volt battery to get the right water flow and adjust the spray head for creating a swirl effect inside the bucket tank. This may be a little trial and error but I bet you will be happy with the end product.

One that I have wanted to build is from a product called "Bait & Fillet" by Rite-Hite. It is an oval and perfect size for what we do in a PA. It will take a little modification but I bet that it would excel as a menhaden tank. It has the perfect design for it. Just do a google image search for it and you will see what I mean. Also.....let me know if you build one and how it came out. I need to experiment with some new designs myself.

I agree...the Hobie Tank is a great product and works well but he needs something for Shad specifically. They run into the pump at the bottom and there isnt a tank out there that does shad well. You have to build it if you want the best tank for shad in my opinion. The guys that do it best are the Striper Guides (non Kayak), check out there set up and scale it down. Good Luck...